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The Syrian Public Tobacco Company will begin manufacturing “Marlboro” brand cigarettes in the first half of 2001. In a recent report in Al-Mustaqbal, the company’s director general, Faisal Sammak, stated that the manufacturing of this international brand would be executed, without affecting the production of local cigarette brands.

Sammak said that his company is about to complete the construction of its new plant in Jab Hassan. The building of this plant, which is a tobacco re-drying station, began earlier this year with investments of $13.5 million.

Reviewing the company’s performance, Sammak said that during the 1999/2000 season, they had purchased 26,132 tons of tobacco from local farmers. This quantity, he added, was valued at SP 2.06 billion. During the same season, the company produced a total of 6,177 tons of tobacco, valued at SP 5.1 billion.

The company’s sales in the local markets between January and July 2000 totaled 7,011 tons, with a value of SP 5.69 billion. The amount of tobacco exported during the first half of 2000 was 1,250 tons, with a total value of SP 87 million.–(Albawaba-MEBG)